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G20: Why Pittsburgh?

The decision to convene the leaders of the Group of 20 countries in the U.S. this fall around the time that heads of government gather at the United Nations in New York presented U.S. officials with a delicate decision: How to gather the 20 leaders in a way that didn’t insult those from countries that aren’t included.

The solution was to put some geographic distance between the U.N. and the site of the G20 meeting, but not so much distance that the site was inconvenient. One option considered was a site in northern suburbs of New York City.

The White House said Thursday that the G20 leaders will convene in Pittsburgh on September 24 and 25. By choosing the western Pennsylvania city (unemployment rate 7.6%, at last tally) the U.S. is turning to an approach often followed by the Group of Eight, the organization of big industrialized countries.

Over the years, G8 summits often have been used as an economic development tool, a way to bring businesses to cities outside the host nation’s capital. Italy, for instance, shifted the location of this summers G8 summit from the island of La Maddalena off the northeast coast of Sardinia to l’Aquila in the Abruzzo region, a town devastated by an earthquake in April.